


To Be a Kid Again

by Purplepanther7



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, De-Aged Keith (Voltron), Fluffy Angst, I tried to be as vague as possible but still be interesting, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Keith turns into a kid, M/M, Might take a while before it gets to some of the summary, Mutual Pining, No Sex, No Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Probably no violence at all, Set in canon, Supportive Lance (Voltron), The first chapter is probably the most graphic this story is going to get, You know what I mean, broganes, but not literal broganes, i don't know how to tag, if there is it's mild and not unlike canon, just like everyone else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-07-28 18:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16247318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplepanther7/pseuds/Purplepanther7
Summary: When team Voltron is on their road trip on their way back to Earth, Keith goes through some changes and gets turned into a kid. Still with all of his adult memories, Keith tries to make everything normal again but winds up making things worse for himself while the team thinks everything is fine. Lance is the one who notices that something is wrong.





	1. A Big Change

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I just want there to be more fanfics with Keith as a kid remembering who he is, but not as a baby because there are plenty of those, so I decided to make one myself! Let's face it Keith as kid is adorable. Well all saw the first episode of season 7! Oh yeah forgot to mention this takes place during season seven if you didn't read the summary. This is also the first Voltron fanfiction I've ever written!

Dying on a rock in space is not how Keith wanted to go out. If he had a choice he would have chosen to go down in one of the heroic battles they went through or probably the best option for peacefully after he settled down and has a family. He wasn’t sure how likely that was for him of all people now though.

Keith went back to Black and tried to calm himself down. He had felt really angry and drained throughout the course of the day and it was only getting worse as it went on. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time since before the two years he had spent with his mother. She had taught him meditating techniques to calm his temper when he grew impatient during the journey on the space whale. Since he didn’t feel quite in the mood for meditating, he figured some sleep would help him. He sat down and got comfortable in the Black Lion’s chair, but before he got the chance to fully fall asleep he felt a sharp pain in his chest. 

Keith’s eyes snapped open at the sudden sensation. He waited for it to fade as nothing physical had caused it, but it kept getting more and more prominent like a sweltering flame. It went from a small needle poking him to thousands of needles prodding and stabbing him all the while getting deeper and deeper into his skin. Strangely though, he also felt like his skin was contracting in on itself tightening his body like binds that could get infinitely tighter and tighter. Suffocating him.

Gradually, Keith started to feel pain in other parts of his body. He felt it in as far out as his toes and at the tips of his fingers. He gripped fiercely to the Black lion's controls as if it was his lifeline, but it kept spreading, enveloping him in pain.

Keith doubled over in his seat, gulping in air,-it was getting harder to breathe- and heard Black worriedly call out to him. He hadn’t heard her until now, but Black’s cries for someone to come help her Paladin echoed throughout the cockpit in spiritual sound waves. Unfortunately, the only person who could have possibly heard her- Shiro- no longer had a connection with Black, and she was too weakened from previous battles- and without a castle to replenish her energy in- to call out physically. She tried her best to comfort her Paladin through the searing pain, but over time her gentle nudges inside his mind faded when the pain spread like a forest fire to his head. His head pounded and he tried to bring up his hands to clutch it but the movement hurt too much. His arms lay limp in his lap.

Keith hadn’t let out a shout of pain hoping to not disturb anyone. He prayed that the pain would just fade away like the panic attacks he'd had before always did, but then he felt something indescribable.

Keith could feel his bones moving, slowly shifting under his skin. He could hear them bumping into each other through his ears. It sent shivers down his spine, which was now shifting along with the rest of his skeletal system. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a scream.  
Terrified and frightened by what was happened to his body, tears streamed down his face as he tried not to tremble. It hurt too much. He knew this was entirely wrong. He couldn’t even comprehend what had been the cause of this because the pain was too great for him to form full thoughts in his throbbing head. 

Keith’s insides squeezed together under his contracting skin and shifting bones causing him to fall off the chair with a grunt and onto the floor. The impact made a dull thud, and it left a searing sensation of fire up his side that made him hiss in pain. Covered in sweat and gasping for air, his screams echoed throughout the cockpit with no one there to help him. A feeling of despair flowed over him like a tidal wave pulling him under the surface. He was truly alone. His arm reached out to the door as if to silently beg for anyone to stumble into the cockpit to check on him. As if another person simply being there with him would save him from his pain.  
His arm fell to the floor with a soft thud, the pain being too much for him. Would he really die here, killed by something he didn’t even see, completely powerless to stop it? He stared at the ceiling in comtemplation. Death seemed like a better option than his continued suffering. He had been willing to die before hadn’t he? It had been for the sake of his friends when a planet was turned into a bomb. He remembered closing his eyes readying himself to give up his life, but then a moment later being given a second chance. He hadn’t even thought twice about sacrificing himself. He hadn’t realized how crazy that was until he was back with Voltron and found his mother. He had people who cared about him and would miss him if he was gone. And he would be crushed if he had lost any of them as well. He wanted to force himself to push through and build up the strength he fight back, because he really didn’t want to die. But now he was lying on the floor, helpless, just hoping for the pain to stop. Keith couldn’t help but think about his friends a little while longer, and how much he would miss them. He thought about what he would miss most about of each of them: Shiro’s brotherly advice and dad-like attitude, Pidge’s snarky sarcasm and sharp intelligence, Hunk’s gourmet masterpieces and warm hugs, Allura’s strength and determination, Coran’s endless positivity and energy, and Lance’s ability to brighten up a room by telling jokes that he never would admit he thought they were funny. He had come to think of them all as family, and even though they had lost the castle, he had found a home with them. Something that he had wanted all of his life, and now that he finally had it in his grasp he was about to lose it again. The last thing he feels is his his vision blurring and shouts fading. His voice refused to make sound and he wound up choking on air, leaving behind only desperate rasps. Those didn’t even sound like himself anymore. He slips unconscious and the ghosts of his screams falls on deaf ears. He never even got say goodbye.

\------------ 

Perhaps he didn’t need to say goodbye after all. He woke up with a start, purple eyes shooting open. Feeling fully awake, He felt the cold of the floor under his hands and breathed in the sterile air of the inactive lion. He grunted softly as he pulled his body up from a restless sleep. His body felt sore all over and his throat hurt from shouting. So it wasn’t a nightmare, Keith ruled out. He took in his surroundings and strangely the Black Lion seemed bigger than it used to be. Or maybe he was smaller..? His body did feel like it had been shoved through a trash compactor.

Absentmindedly, he put his hand to his terse throat, but froze before it could reach his neck. He frantically put his hands out in front of him to observe them closely. They appeared small and fragile as if his fingers could be broken by simply cracking his knuckles or by being tapped lightly by a hammer. Not the rough hands he was used to. When he flipped them to look at his palms, he realized that the callouses he had gained from his years of piloting had vanished. All that experience gone, like it had never existed. 

In search of what else could be wrong, he looked down to see that the clothes he had fallen asleep in were suddenly very baggy and slipped off of his body slightly, not having enough body to fill them. Something was seriously wrong. 

When he ungracefully decided to stand his legs wobbled under him as he tried to gain his balance. He saw small dainty feet poking it from under his sagging pants and his eyes widened as he saw that his shirt was down below his hips when it should have been resting up at his waist. For some reason that was very unsettling. A nervous feeling in his gut stirred not wanting to know what was wrong with him, but his itching curiosity overuled that fear. He needed to know. As if hearing his need for answers Black purred in his mind. She seemed slightly faded away as if she was speaking to him from a distance even though he was standing In the center of her cockpit. The controls flickered to life slowly like a computer booting up, and Black pulled up the face camera used when the Paladins communicated to each while flying their lions. Keith edged over slowly and froze in place immediately after what he saw. Despite his hoarse throat he still let a shout, which sounded closer to a high-pitched scream. That was definitely not his voice. A twenty year old man shouldn’t be able to make such a sound, but he was the only person in the room and he had heard the vibrations in his head, no matter how wrong they sounded. 

He peeked over to the camera again just to test that he wasn't seeing things, but what he saw remained the same no matter how much he stared. 

A young raven-haired teenager with violet eyes that looked about 15 years old stood there in place of his reflection with the same horrified expression that Keith felt on his own face.

He was a kid again.

Then he heard frenzied knocks pounding on the door.


	2. The Day Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twenty four hours before Keith undergoes his transformation into a kid, there are some events that take place that are the cause of his current state.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry for not updating in so long. This might be the longest chapter I’ve ever written XD so that might make up for it. I have a lot more of this story sitting around in my notes, so I’ll post the next chapter probably tomorrow but don’t quote me on it. I’ll try and be quicker about it though.  
> Thank you for the comments! I’m so glad people have liked the small part that I put out there.

24 hours earlier 

Keith was worried. Even though they had won the battle against the Druid he was still pretty unsettled. The fact that the Blade of Marmoura was almost entirely eliminated was bad enough, but what else could the Druids have done over the time they were gone? Or more importantly: what was Haggar doing? 

Kosmo put his snout on Keith’s leg to comfort him. He had seen his Master’s worried expression and tried to soothe him. Keith pat his head gratefully and caught up to Lance who he was leaving the cave with. 

“Lance, I think I’m going to go back and see if we left anything behind in there.”

Lance quirked his eyebrow, “Keith, everyone’s safe, if we left anything behind we would know.”

Keith huffed in frustration, “Just... trust me.”

A beat of silence, “Always,” he replied simply, but there was a lot of trust behind that. Keith was the man he trusted to be their leader, and he knew that he would make the right decision. 

Keith smiled at him, told Kosmo to stay with Lance, and then made his way back to the cave. The echoing of his footsteps and the darkness of it all was enough to send a shiver down Keith’s spine, and he didn’t scare easily. 

Keith investigated the place where Macidus held Kolivan prisoner as well as his living quarters. There wasn’t much to be seen in either place. He even went to look at where he had kept the Blade’s weapons as trophies. The thought of how he lured them in still made him sick to his stomach. 

Just when Keith was about to make his way out he was stopped, by a familiar malicious laugh. 

“Macidus? How?” Keith demanded angrily he could have sworn that he had won the battle against him. He had vanished from existence in a frantic flash of light after all. That and he stabbed him with his sword and could possibly be alive.

“Worry not little Paladin,” Keith could practically hear the sadistic grin through the voice alone, “This form will not last long as it is just a projection of my final spirit to seek my revenge on you... then again you probably should be worried knowing what I’m going to do you,” another laugh reverberated throughout the cavern. 

Keith, blade summoned, looked around frantically, ready for a fight, “Show yourself, you coward!” he threatened at the air.

Instead he got a jolt of the familiar purple lightning passing through his body. Keith felt the electricity course through him and lift him off of the ground. The laugh turned maniacal as Keith struggled in the energy’s grip. 

A shadowy figure of Macidus appeared before him that quite literally looked like his ghost bout to get his revenge, “I may have been defeated by you, but you deserve to have my parting message,” he paused for dramatic effect and got up in Keith’s face, “As you know us Druids were abandoned by Haggar. Even after everything we had been through she left us to die on this god forsaken planet. Those moments were the worst of my life and I had never felt so weak and useless. You have no idea what that abandonment feels like,” little did he know Keith knew exactly how that felt, “I had lived to serve the empire and they had given me power beyond belief only to let me go when I am no longer needed,” he turned back to Keith, coming out of his somber mood with his devilish grin, “Now as my parting wish I am going to inflict the same amount of uselessness on you, Leader of Voltron. I will force you to live out the most painful period of your life and you will never forget it.” 

And with that Macidus faded into the shadows once more. He heard Macidus murmuring what sounded like an ancient incantation, with words that Kieth could never hope to understand in a hundred years. The lightning around him increased and expanded and he could feel the energy overflowing his systems. He let out a scream as the pain throughout his body increased and it was about to reach its peak when suddenly the lightning faded and he fell to the ground. 

Keith breathed heavily making sure that everything was ok with himself. Besides a little soreness and being drained, he observed, he seemed fine. He got up off the ground with a little difficulty, and made his way out of the cave, not knowing what the incantation had really done.  
-

Lance had watched Keith come back out of the cave and he looked exhausted. Lance asked him if he was okay and he replied with the normal lone wolf Keith response: “I’m fine.” Lance just figured he was exhausted from the mission. It was crazy that a Druid could comeback to haunt him like that. 

As they walked back the lions Lance couldn’t help but notice that Keith was slightly limping and he seemed sapped of his energy in a way that couldn’t just be from this mission. He looked drained. 

He was paler than normal and held himself in a way that looked like he was seconds away from fainting. 

As Lance examined his featured with worry to see if there was any bad injuries he was hiding, he noticed something: the pinkish purple scar that resembled his mother’s galra marks was gone. 

Keith glanced at him. He had noticed that Lance was looking at him as if he wanted to tell him something. Lance looked away, flustered, and decided it was just a trick of the light and that Keith would be fine. He didn’t see any bad injuries so he opted to look at the ground instead of Keith’s face from then on.  
-

“-Keith! Are you listening?” Lance’s voice cut through Keith’s headset in his helmet, “If you’re done daydreaming we could really use you out here buddy.” 

Keith shook his head a little startled by the sudden lack of concentration. They had started back up in their space journey back to earth and had run into a not quite so abandoned galra facility and the station was shooting at them through an asteroid belt.

How could he possibly be daydreaming while they were under attack like that? He usually never found it hard to focus on missions, but his brain was fuzzy and uncooperative at the moment. What had Macidus done to him? 

‘Shiro should be leading this operation not me.’ The thought startled him. Black’s controls momentarily seized up as well as if she had responded to the moment of doubt. Since when has he thought like that? He hadn’t believed that since before his two year get-to-know-each-other vacation with his mom, if you could even call endlessly drifting through time and space on a living asteroid resembling a whale a vacation. When he first became leader he thought constantly that Shiro should lead instead of him. One of the reasons he left for the blade was because Shiro had been back. That and one other reason. But things were different now and he was fine with piloting Black. As leader of Voltron he should be assured of himself or the rest of the team would fall apart. He knew that.

He shook off the train of thought and tried to muster up his best leader voice, “Sorry about that, Hunk shut down those canons.” 

Before Hunk could affirm Shiro spoke up instead, “Belay that, tactical retreat everyone. We don’t need to win this fight.” Shiro had seen through his cracks. Not surprising considering Keith felt like crap. He probably sounded like crap too even with him trying to sound the leader he should be, was, “Let’s touchdown on that asteroid,” Ridge sent out a location to the rest of the lions, “We should be good to rest there for the night.”

Multiple sounds of affirmation went through the comms as they all flew towards the large asteroid that would provide them with a safe distance from the galra base. Keith tried to repress the guilt he felt in his stomach for screwing it up and having to have Shiro step in for him, his brain getting the least bit less fuzzy. 

 

The all set down their lions on the asteroid in a circle formation. Coran had somehow set up a campfire like atmosphere with a fire and a group of sleeping bags scattered around it. He even had the altean version of marshmallows that were a bright turquoise and look liked they had been doused in food coloring, but Coran said the were all natural. They kinda tasted like fluffy raspberries Lance though to himself. 

Shiro had gone back to the green lion to get some well deserved rest, and Allura had decided to has some bonding time with Blue taking the mice along with her, so right now it was just Romelle, Lance, Kieth, Pidge, Hunk and Coran gathered in their makeshift campground.

They all chatted wistfully around the fire with Romelle trying to learn people’s names and referring to Lance as pointy chin more than once. He had gotten comments on his sharp face in the past and it having been a sensitive topic he retorted back: my face is perfectly normal thank you very much!!! Pidge and Hunk stifled their chuckles. 

They also shared stories with Romelle about how they found themselves as defenders of the universe. Her eyes sparkled excitedly as they told her about the Garrison and finding the Blue lion. 

Lance shared the story with his exaggerated bravado, “Keith somehow was able to track the blue lion with this weird sensing ability,” he wriggled his fingers for dramatic effect, “Hey mullet how did you even manage to do that?” 

“I have no idea Lance,” Keith huffed out, arms crossed, looking frustrated but just as drained as before. 

Lance took note of this and asked, toning down his eccentricity to a slightly gentle tone, “You okay there buddy?”

Keith clenches his shoulders almost looking like he was going to yell at him, but then his shoulders fell and Lance barely managed to catch the momentary look of confusion on Keith’s face. His expression immediately shifted back to its neutral position. He got up from his seat and sighed, “I think I’m going to go sleep in my lion tonight if that’s okay,” he said, directing himself towards Coran. 

“Go ahead my boy,” Coran assured him. Keith smiles lightly and makes his way over to the Black Lion. Everyone watched him leave in silence, the lighthearted mood diminished, with only the crackling of the campfire remaining. 

Romelle spoke up first, “Is he usually like that?”

“Not really...” Hunk mummured a little unsure of the Black Paladin’s sudden mood swing. 

“Has anybody noticed that he’s looking a bit less... grizzled lately?” Lance couldn’t hold it in anymore. He realized that it wasn’t a trick of light, and that Keith’s scar had vanished from his face, like it had never been there in the first place. Things like that don’t just happen.There was something wrong he could feel it. 

Pidge snickered, “Seriosuly Lance you need to get your priorities straight,” she smirked devilishly, “Well then again you’re anything but straight around Keith...” 

Lance immediately felt a large blush spread across his face, “Quit it you little gremlin!” He denied her the chance to open that can of worms. He closed his eyes and took a breath. When he opened them, they fell to the floor, voice full of sincerity he said, “But seriously I think there’s something up...” he let out his frustration, “haven’t any of you noticed that his scar is missing?!”

Silence falls, and the answer is clear. Everyone stared at Lance for a moment but then they each looked away guiltily.

Lance felt a hand rest on his shoulder, “I’ll admit I didn’t notice, but I’m sure everything’s ok, buddy,” Hunk reassured him, softly, “If something was wrong, Keith he would tell us right?”

Silence fell again, settling upon them like humid air in a hot and stuffy room. 

“I’m not sure he would...” Lance trailed off. 

After some time the lighthearted tone returned and Hunk and Pidge went back to telling stories about Earth to Romelle. 

Lance remained uncharacteristicly silent as his mind was clouded with worrying about Keith. He had managed to stop himself from knock on the Black Lion door and demanding to see him, but doubts still whizzed about him his head.

Eventually the chatter trailed off and everyone settled in their sleeping bags around the naturally dying fire, preparing for sleep. 

Lance managed to close his eyes and he was on the bery brink of falling into a deep sleep, when he heard a noise. It sounded like someone screaming, and it came from the direction of the Black Lion. Lance could barely register what that meant and chalked it up to weird space coyotes before drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. What do we do now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kieth is found in the Black Lion and everyone tries to figure out where to go from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo I’m back again! It’s not as soon as I wanted it to come out, but at least it hasn’t been months.

Back to the present 

Keith hears knocking on the Black Lion door from outside. 

A voice that Keith identifies as Lance comes through, “Hey Keith are you feeling okay?” He pauses and his voice sounds full of anguish, “I thought I heard screaming last night, but I never got the chance to check up on you...”

Keith stumbles on his words, he thought no one had heard him. That wasn’t the only thing that had him at a lack words though. He had never heard Lance’s voice so worried before, especially directed towards himself, “I-it’s fine. I’m ok Lance.” He tries and fails to reassure him with his voice cracking on most of the words, still hoarse and adjusting to being through reverse puberty. 

“Are you sure?” Lance placed his hand on the cold metal of the door of the Black Lion that separated them. Keith’s connection with Black was still faint. He couldn’t will Black to open the door. It was like she was protecting him. Even though it was obvious Lance would never cause any harm to him, deep down Keith didn’t want his teammates to see him like this. So weak and useless...

Despite this he knows he can’t stay locked up in Black forever, and he tries to hobble his way over to the door. 

Keith huffs weakly, “Yeah I’m-“ his legs give out under him and he falls hard onto the floor. His legs were still sore from the recent developments and made him resemble a newborn foal trying to walk for the first time.

“Nope, to the no, noppity nope! That certainly doesn’t sound like ok to me. I’m getting Shiro,” Lance called frantically, and left sprinting to get help. He was sure he couldn’t handle this on his own. Any injuries Keith was assure him that he was fine and he needed someone who would ignore that no matter how much Keith protested. The person Keith needed was Shiro. 

Keith laid spread out on the floor for a moment. He was still comprehending the fact that he now in fact, a kid again, the camera doesn’t lie, (most of the time anyway) and he was stuck like this for who knows how long. He closed his eyes and called out to Black, but she stubbornly still didn’t seem to be responding. He sighed deeply, being left alone with his own thoughts. 

Being a kid again doesn’t bring about the sense of wonder that Keith assumed other people would get from this kind of experience. Other people would reminisce fondly of their childhood experiences and the childlike glee that would result from it, but Keith didn’t have many good memories to reminisce about. 

His father passed away when he was very young and he had no way of knowing he had a mother out there somewhere in the depths of space, so he was forced into orphanages. Those walls did not hold fond memories for Keith. He went from home to home just hoping that someone would care for him, while at the same time not wanting to because no one would ever compare to the love and support he felt from his father. Even though he had been reluctant at the time, thinking that he would just be like everyone else, he was really glad that Shiro had found him when he did. He had quite literally changed his life.

After a few minutes, Keith hears the knocking on his door once again. Speak of the devil, Shiro’s voice comes through the wall, “Keith, you ok in there?” His voice is rimmed with worry, full of brotherly concern that Keith heard in his voice ranging from everyday to occasionally when he got into trouble. He really was like a dad in that aspect. 

Keith sighs, “Seriously Shiro I’m fine you don’t need to come in,” he can’t even hide the strained voice he has as tries to get up while he speaks, and Shiro clearly catches on.

“Hang on Keith, I’m coming in,” his voice determined, like he was saving a damsel in distress. Keith sighs, he supposes he looks more a damsel now anyway. 

Shiro gets ready to punch the door open, but with a gust of wind, Black opens it before he can do so. He stares in disbelief for moment. Did Black just open up for him? Maybe their connection wasn’t as gone as he had thought... Shiro shakes his head and focuses on the task at hand: Keith. He peers into the Black Lion with a battle ready stance expecting an injury, blood, anything, but instead sees a younger version of his little brother.   
Keith steadies himself on his feet, and says meekly, trying to not freak his brother out, “Hey, Shiro.”

Shiro nearly faints.

-  
The whole group observes as Keith sits uncomfortably like a lab rat with a frown plastered on his face as he shifts in his too large clothes. He felt small in comparison to the rest of them and didn’t like prolonged eye contact in general. It makes him feel uncomfortable.

He had the strange childlike urge to call out for his mom but she had left with Kolivan to try and find any remaining Blades. He pushed the feeling down deep within himself. 

He turned to face his fellow teammates. What would they think about this? Nervousness settled in his gut and his skin felt tingly. Probably a side affect of... what ever happened to him.

Everyone still gawked at the sight of a little Keith before them. None of them had much to say but their thoughts were clearly displayed on their faces. Hunk was worried but also debating on squeezing Little Keith with infinite amounts of hugs. Pidge had the ecstatic and almost maniacal look on her face that she gets when she wants to disassemble a pice of machinery and investigate how it ticks. The gleam of her glasses hides the dangerous eagerness in her eyes. Allura looks concerned and confused at the same time. Shiro is clearly very worried about Keith, with furrowed eyebrows and more brotherly overprotectiveness than usual. That, along with tiredness fainting at the sight of him . Lance tries to keep a straight face by looking curious as he thinks about how much he wants to squish Keith’s scowling face and tease him about it. 

Allura is the first to speak up, “This is quite the development.” 

“Yeah, no duh,” Keith scowls deeply, crossing his arms and looking away from his team crowding around him, but any malice should have had in his voice was overshadowed by how it was slightly more high pitched it was than usual. With the gruffness in his having voice diminished he just sounded adorable. Lance held back a squeal as covertly as he could. Keith got fed up with all of the staring and demands, “Is there anyway to fix this?” gesturing to himself frantically. Still adorable.

“In order to do that we have to figure out how this happened. Do you know what may have caused this?” Allura asked him gently. 

He furrowed his brows clearly reflecting on the past twenty four hours, “I felt really drained after the battle with the Druid and felt really irritable after that.” He didn’t specify that it was the second battle, since he didn’t think it would be an important detail. He couldn’t help the feeling that Shiro would just get angry at him for going back in alone, even though there was no imminent danger at the time he went to investigate.

Allura looked him over in thought, “It does seem possible that a Druid would be able to do this,” she approached him and gently reached out a hand towards him, “May I?” He nodded shyly, a little a unsure of what she was going to do, but trusted her judgement. She placed her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes as rest of the Paladins stood and watched in anticipation. A field of quintessence around her started to glow not unlike when she summoned Shiro’s spirit form the Black Lion, but much more tame. And instead of purple there was a red tint to the little particles of energy. Keith felt tingly but he did not protest, trying to stay as still as possible. The energy faded as soon as it came and Allura opened her eyes slowly. Everyone waited for her to speak. 

She exhaled and took a step away from Keith to address the group with her diagnosis. Keith’s eyes searched her expression, hoping for some answers. “His quintessence has definitely been tampered with,” silence settled over the group. Keith looked around worriedly in search of some kind of reassurance that that wasn’t as bad as it sounded.

Shiro spoke up and spoke for everyone, clearly not knowing what she meant, “What does that mean exactly?” They had basic knowledge of quintessence, but they didn’t really know it’s inner workings. It’s not like it was something that they taught at the Garrison.

Allura looked down at Keith with a worried glance before facing the rest of the team to start her explanation, “As you all know quintessence is essentially life force itself. All living beings have it and it is essential to survival. When a living being starts out it’s life its quintessence is great as they have a supply of life force to last them a lifetime. When a being comes to the end of their life they have run out of quintessence. Whether a life is cut short or lived long and full the remaining quintessence is released and given to other new life forms to continue the cycle.” All of the Paladins listen intently, leaning in slightly, “Certain life forms are able to manipulate quintessence like myself. We are able to tap into our own lifeforce and use it as magic, or as we call it, alchemy. This is not life threatening as the amount is as magic is very little compared to a life. It is separate from the quintessence used to fuel or life but it also is a factor in the quintessence that affects aging.

Allura continues, “Although lifeforms have a great amount of quintessence when they’re first born they are unable to tap into as much until their much older. That’s why some of the most powerful alchemists on Altea were the elders. They are able to tap into the most quintessence. It seems your quintessence was tapped into by the Druid and filled to the point where it regressed your body into the form it took when you had that much quintessence within your body.” 

Keith still absorbing the information, asks, “Is there a way you can take the extra quintessence out?”

“Yes, but right now your body is too malleable. Your body could absorb even more quintessence or try and release it all at once. If I try to do anything too soon it won’t end well. We have to let it stabilize first.” 

Coran pops out of nowhere (no, not because the author forgot to add him in earlier) to add his own input, “You see my boy, it’s similar to how Allura preforms her shapeshifting,” he gestured to a chart he pulls up off of a projection screen showing a human body split into two sections. One section around the heart of the body, and the other section around the remaining parts, “She taps into the quintessence from her core to change her body’s shape, but naturally it wants to return to the way it is normally,” the body on the chart matches his explaination by showing the body morph into a creature but then turn back into the way it was before. Coran suddenly gets up in Keith’s face startling him, with his finger waggling, “Be warned number 4, it is dangerous to try and get your form to bend to your will for too long, the quintessence would be in flux and the body’s form would start to deteriorate,” the projection of the body turns into a puddle with a putty-like sound effect, “That’s why we can’t force your body to go back to the way it was, as right now this is the form it wants to be in naturally due to the extra quintessence in your system. We just have to wait for it to be brought down to a more normal level so Allura can expell it” 

The Paladins sat and tried to take in the information, like students cramming for an exam. 

Lance is the one who speaks up this time, “So I take it he’s gonna be stuck like this for a while, huh?”

“Yes, unfortunately” Allura confirms and Keith feels his shoulders slump and a pang sink in his stomach. This was not good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all the exhibition stuff. I hope this made some kind of sense. I wanted to actually explain my idea of how the quintessence affected Keith’s body, but I’m not sure if I got the point across well. If you have any questions I’d be glad to clear it up. Thanks for reading!


	4. Nightmares of Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith remembers some things he would rather forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update??? Sure

Keith decided to go back to his lion and try to go to sleep and rest so his body could start recovering as fast as possible. The sooner he was healed the better. His brain couldn’t help but worry what would happen if he remained like this. If he was stuck like as a kid what would that mean for Voltron? It was clear his connection with Black was affected somehow. Shiro couldn’t pilot Black ever since he started inhabiting his clone’s body. That and the fact that he didn’t have an arm to pilot in the first place. What were they supposed to do if they needed Voltron? 

Keith tried to push those thoughts from his head as he hopped into the sleeping bag that Coran had given him. He noticed that there was a lot more space for him then there would be normally. Right now he could hide in it and be totally enveloped like a goop monster swallowing him whole. Okay where had that thought come from?

He shook it off, and willed his mind to stay blank until he drifted off into a deep sleep. 

-

“-ith, Keith, wake up buddy,” a soothing voice lured him out of his sleep.   
He wiped away his blurry vision to look up at a man who had an uncanny resemblance to Shiro, but still had the familiar features he had seen so often as a child, “Dad?” he asked tiredly sleep still clouding his thoughts. 

“C’mon lets go eat breakfast,” his dad smiled at him, and Keith pulled back the covers of his bed. 

Keith sat down in his seat and watched his dad as he cooked, humming an unfamiliar tune. Keith rocked in his stool impatiently as the smell of food wafts through the air. His dad placed a plate of eggs and bacon on the counter in front of Keith and he immediately dug in. 

His dad chuckled making Keith look up from his dish, “You sure are the hungry little monster aren’t you?” He smiled fondly down at him and rustled Keith’s hair. 

They hung out together for a while, relaxing in the summer sun, until Keith’s dad had to leave for an errand. On his way out he said to look out for the house and rustled Keith’s hair once more before he walked out the door. 

Eventually it started to get darker and Keith thought it would be a good idea to get dinner started for his Dad before he came back. He turned some knobs on the oven to see if that would work and when it didn’t he figured it just needed some time to warm up, so he made his way upstairs to wait. 

To pass the time he played a video game on his console for a while, until he eventually forgot about turning on the stove. While he was playing he smelled something strange. It smelled like something was burning. Curiously Keith made his way downstairs to see a fire on the stove, the flames tickling at the ceiling and the surrounding walls.   
Unbeknownst to Keith the fire had started because all the time it was left unattended the stove had short circuited. 

Keith panicked and went to try and find the fire extinguisher. He spotted it on the far wall on the kitchen cabinet, but it was being barricaded by the flames. 

He went to go get a bucket of water from outside, fumbling with the faucet and the water spilling over the rim as he hurried back to the fire. When he got back it had continued to double in size. He frantically splashed a part of the fire with some of the water missing and dousing the floor. He felt a strong shock from the flames through the water. The electricity had stung so badly, he crumpled down on the floor, fire still growing around him. 

The fire consuming the ceiling bit away at the wood and had some of the floor that was the ceiling fall to the floor entrapping Keith within the kitchen.

The air become more suffocating and Keith struggled to breathe. Sweat beaded down his forehead as he remained on the floor, barely comprehending what was going on. But he knew one thing: he was going to die. It was a shocking fact that reverberated through his skull, but at the same time he had accepted it already. It was his own fault. He had never felt so much fear in his life. 

While he was contemplating his death, a sudden sound this came from the other side of the room. There were shouts from a familiar voice but Keith didn’t have the strength to understand what they were saying. He couldn’t move his body from the floor, and even if he could, the raging flames blocked his path. 

The shouting continued and made its way closer to him, but at a lower volume. He could fuzzily make out his father’s face standing over him telling him everything would be ok in a soft voice. He felt himself being lifted up in strong arms in one swoop of motion. He felt secure and safe in those arms. He always had. 

As the house fell apart at the seams as his dad made it through the obstacles of flaming wood and the different barricades that prevented them from the sweet release freedom that was the open air.

The house creaked and moaned under the pressure of the increasing fire, trying to stay intact as his savior tried to escape the lethal flames. The remains of their surroundings let out a deafening groan like a monster that wouldn’t let both of them leave its lair. 

The house fell as if it was in slow motion. In one moment of clarity he saw his fathers face wistfully smiling at him as he felt his arms let go of his body. Before he could fully realize it he was being tossed out the door to safety as the flames encircled his fathers face. Keith had escaped the monster, but his father had not. Reality came crashing down and in the blink of an eye Keith could see his father be crushed by the remains of their home. 

Keith let out a blood curdling scream, and sirens could be heard from the distance. The warmth of the fire still beat on his face as his sweat began to cool and he laid limp in front of what was left of his home in denial. Unstoppable tears streamed down his face, as he curled into the ground making himself seem as small as possible. 

He didn’t want to be small. He wanted to yell and scream and save his father from the house’s grasp, but deep down he knew it was too late. That he was alone. 

The sirens arrived and he was crowded by people swarming around him. He heard voices but refused to listen. There was one voice he couldn’t help but hear over the rest though. He recognized it as one his dads co-workers. Footsteps approached him, grass swishing against his boots. Keith made no notion to move, with tears still flowing he refused to look up at the man’s no doubt pitying face. The voice of the man said under his breath upon arriving at his side: “He really went and did it didn’t he?”

Keith didn’t have the strength to reply and instead looked down at the floor, glaring at the dirt through the tears and hiccups. 

Eventually Keith mustered up the bravery to stare at the flames with raging tears, ingraining the image into his brain. Standing up, as if rebelling against sorrow itself, the dancing flames reflected in his eyes. 

The man remained by side for more than a few moments. They stood in silence in front of the monster of a fire that had taken everything. They stayed until it eventually died off plummeting the world into darkness. That moment signified the end of Keith having a normal happy life. Keith would never forget it for as long as he lived, scarred by the final image of his father being consumed by the flames.

Keith had learned later that his dad heard about the fire and immediately took his car and speed to the house before everyone else. His coworker had tried to stop him and wait for backup but the look in his dad’s eyes told him that no one would be able to stop him from going to that house immediately. 

Keith sat in one of the fire trucks with a blanket covering him while staring off into space, with a crushing guilt that no kid should ever feel and slammed his fist onto the cool metal that he sat on letting out a grunt of rage. 

And then he woke up. 

Gasping with tears in his eyes and heavy breath. He wiped away the tears and tried to collect himself, but pitifully kept on crying like the child he was. 

The silence of the room consumed by his heavy breaths echoed around him. The cockpit he sat in seemed all the more dark, lifeless. He closed his eyes in an effort to feel the calmness around him. 

He hadn’t had nightmares of that day in a long time. He supposed that his age regression might have factored into it given that he was now at an age where those memories had been a lot more raw. They had always been painful, but having it brought back so vividly like that hurt Keith in ways he couldn’t put into words. Even though it was so far in the past... it terrified him.

When he managed to gain control of his breathing, he stood up from his place on the Black Lion’s floor, clutching the blanket and covering his shoulders as if protecting himself from the world.

He left the cockpit, sighing with a shudder. What was he doing? Where was he even trying to go? He had no idea, but he knew in his gut he just needed to go somewhere. Find someone.

Keith found himself walking up to the Red lion. He didn’t know why, but the sense of familiarity comforted him slightly. He didn’t know what Lance would think though. He knew he probably wouldn’t mind him visiting, expecting something like an off comment about him disrupting his beauty sleep and then letting him stay. Or maybe he would just say nothing. 

When Keith thought about his relationship with Lance at the moment he realized they hadn’t even had a full conversation in a couple of weeks. Which saddened Keith but it was inevitable when you were avoiding someone. Keith knew it sounded bad that he was avoiding someone that he literally had to be connected with in order to form a giant robot to save the universe, but it wasn’t like they were in a fight or anything. They were just less friendly with each other than they used to be. Keith couldn’t deny the pang in his chest that he felt as he thought of that, but he sucked up his emotions with a deep breath and tried to form the usual wall he had built for himself when he was around other people. 

He knocked on the door and after a few seconds a rather tired Lance opened the door and the tired expression he wore on his face immediately changed to a surprised one. 

“Can I come in?” Keith says bluntly, already halfway inside, walking past Lance. Lance makes a halfhearted sarcastic welcome motion and follows him inside, rubbing at his eyes and yawning. 

As he enters, Keith feels the soft purrs of Red in the back of his mind. Just like Black her voice was faded but it was still comforting to feel it again. 

Lance leaves Keith momentarily and gets some extra sheets for him (even though he still had one tightly wrapped around himself) in comfortable silence. When he comes back he spreads them across the floor not unlike his mess of blankets that lies more towards the front of cockpit, and plops down a pillow. As he’s doing this he tries not chuckle at the pouty look on Keith’s face with a blanket over his over his head that he sees out of the corner of his eye. He really did look like a little kid.

When he’s finished Lance pats on the blanket for Keith to sit down on. Keith carefully lowers himself into the makeshift bed, and Lance could see him relax slightly as his head hit the pillow. He closed his eyes and his face morphs into something way less tense. A face that would look normal for a kid his age.

Lance made his way over to his own mound of blankets, slightly shifting everything over so he could be closer to Keith. 

When he finally got comfortable and his shifting ceased, awkward silence loomed over the both of them and Lance couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to say something.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Lance asked as quietly as he could, trying to make conversation with a person he knew was very much not a conversationalist.   
“Yeah,” was Keith’s one word reply.  
“You wanna talk about it?” Lance didn’t specify if it was about not sleeping or the whole being a kid again thing but his answer was the same either way.  
“No.”  
“Okay, but If you want to...” I’m here, were the unspoken words that rested between them as they both stared out into space, within their own worlds. 

Lance couldn’t believe that he was seeing Keith this young again. The last time he remembered seeing Keith like this was when he had first arrived at the Garrison. Even though it had been when they were fifteen it felt like an eternity ago.   
Thoughts of Keith and Lance bickering around the Garrison filled his head until he drifted off to sleep. And before long they both were sleeping peacefully under the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you are suspense. ;)  
> Now I kinda see why writers whump characters, but I promise I won't cause Keith anymore pain. Probably...  
> I don't like hurting my babies!!!


End file.
